Bad Mood Strategies #3

The Immense Benefits in Learning to Manage your State

Why Make the Effort?

Why spend the time to come up with bad mood strategies to get yourself into a good mood in the first place? You're busy doing what you're doing and such pre-emptive planning can take a significant amount of time and energy.

The answer is very simple: It's far more fun being in a good mood. You can change your life by feeling better about yourself. You can change your life by ensuring those around you enjoy your company. More energy for needed tasks can change your life. And you'll change your life by becoming more productive, more effective at completing whatever you do.

There's yet another reason why it's valuable to stop your self sabotage and make such efforts to feel good about yourself. Your efforts are never wasted! The more time and effort that you put in being joyful, the more that effort makes it easier to be happier in the future.

But the secret of success is to realize that this is not about pretending to be happy. Pretense doesn't cut it, you actually need to be happy - to become happy. There's a big difference. Pretense is a sham, externally you put a smile on your face, but internally you continue to feel miserable. There can be reasons why you might want to do this on an interim basis, but not for the long-term. Honesty is indeed the best policy.

Being Positive is Good for your Health

There's even a health benefit. Doctors now know that mental negativity has a negative effect on your overall health. A good internal state doesn't just improve your mental wellbeing but also your physical health. Being in a good mood is the secret of success, it's good for your health.

Yet your self sabotage mechanism doesn't want you to improve your mood, it feeds on your negativity! Now you know why some people seem to favor being in a bad mood: Their self sabotage mechanism runs their life and the food they've already given it has just made it stronger. This is a vicious circle. The only way out is to investigate your thoughts and the likely outcome of your choices. But superficial thinking won't do it, you need to think through the consequences of the consequences...

The more energy you put into choosing to be happy, the more happiness you will have in your life, as Deepak Chopra explains below.

Your List of Good Mood Strategies

Making these strategies to change your mood more available will change your life. You've made a list, but don't self sabotage, now decide where to put copies.

You want these strategies to be as available as possible, so that they're accessible when a bad mood strikes you again. Another obvious secret of success is to maximize your chances of actually being able to use them.

This is important work. You'll find being able to lighten your mood to be immensely valuable for dealing with anyone, especially a long-term partner.

You can Improve your Mood Anytime

Even when you're not in a bad mood, you can benefit with one of these strategies. They're all designed to give you a lift, and improving your state will make you feel better. They become more and more familiar with use, which means they're more successful as and when you really need them.

The next article in this series examines proven strategies which have stood the test of time.

Food for Thought

"Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, and disappear."

- Deepak Chopra, American MD, endocrinologist, University Professor, prolific author translated into 35 languages, 19 New York Times bestsellers.

This article was originally published at selfgrowth.com/articles/the-value-of-being-positive-part-3-in-the-bad-mood-strategies-series/